Louisville will be ready Saturday. Mark Stoops believes Cutter .

Louisville will be ready Saturday. Mark Stoops believes Cutter Boley is ready, too.

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops talks to the media on Monday, Nov. 24, 2024, as the Wildcats prepare to play Louisville on Saturday at Kroger Field. Stoops announced that true freshman Cutter Boley will start at quarterback for UK. By John Clay| UK Athletics

Preview: Louisville at Kentucky

Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Louisville Governor’s Cup football rivalry game at Kroger Field.

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Cutter Boley will start at quarterback for Kentucky football against Louisville on Saturday. Mark Stoops confirmed it Monday. No surprise there. Most who watched the freshman’s second-half play in UK’s 31-14 loss at No. 3-ranked Texas felt Boley earned the designation. Stoops concurred.

That’s no knock on Brock Vandagriff. The Georgia transfer quarterback has started all 11 games for the Cats this season. But UK is currently 115th nationally in total offense, 118th in pass efficiency offense. Not all of that is on Vandagriff, a tough kid and great teammate who has played through pain. He still has the tools to be a good college quarterback.

“I think the absolute world of him,” Stoops said of Vandagriff on Monday.

But Boley could be something special. Even before the former Lexington Christian Academy star stepped on a collegiate field, Stoops used such a description about his highly touted quarterback signee. At 6-foot-5, Boley has the size. He has the arm talent. And over his four quarters the last two games, Boley has shown uncommon poise for a first-year quarterback.

That’s not a learned skill. Not completely. True, experience helps. So does good coaching. But at the core of an elite quarterback is an inner confidence to not panic in the pocket, work through progressions and execute. Boley’s sports hero: Tom Brady.

Monday, Stoops highlighted one UK play in particular from Saturday in Austin against a team that could be playing in the national title game. On a third-and-6 with the ball at the Texas 46-yard line, the Longhorns came with an all-out blitz. Boley remained calm, delivered with a defender in his face (literally) and hit Ja’Mori Maclin for a 33-yard completion. The gain was nullified by a holding call, but the impression was made.

“In a tough environment against a top-five team in the country, on the road, an all-out pressure, give a little ground and throw it to a space,” Stoops said. “It was a pretty impressive play. And there were many more like that in there.”

Even without that completion, Boley finished 10-of-18 passing for 160 yards. Three of his completions went for 20-or-more yards, including a 43-yard hookup with Barion Brown. This also came with Kentucky facing must-pass situations in a catch-up effort.

“Boley is making a nice audition for himself to be the guy heading into next year,” said former Florida quarterback Jesse Palmer on the ABC telecast. “I think he’s done a lot of really good things here in the second half against maybe the best defense in all of college football.”

There was even a report by KSR’s Nick Roush that Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, the Texas graduate whose father played football at UK, met with Boley after the game to compliment the way the freshman played.

Turn the clock back. Boley suffered an inauspicious debut, going for 0-for-6 with an interception doing mop-up duty in the Wildcats’ 48-20 loss at Florida on Oct. 19. Talking to him the next week, the freshman appeared unfazed. He saw it as a learning experience. Something to build on.

Cutter Boley’s poise inside and outside the pocket made a favorable impression on his coaches and the viewing audience during the second half of Kentucky’s loss at Texas on Saturday.

Cutter Boley’s poise inside and outside the pocket made a favorable impression on his coaches and the viewing audience during the second half of Kentucky’s loss at Texas on Saturday. Silas Walker

When the UK staff gave Vandagriff time off to heal during the team’s second bye week, Boley took all the practice snaps with the first-team offense. When Vandagriff returned before the Murray State game, the starter took 80 percent of the snaps with the No. 1 unit. Boley took the other 20 percent.

“Prior to Murray, we saw something a little different with his approach,” Stoops said Monday. “He’s always very serious, wants to be great and is committed with his time and all that. I think maybe a little light switch went off. I feel like he’s tuned-in.”

Louisville will be ready Saturday. Defensive coordinator Ron English is a veteran coach with a deep bag of tricks. He’ll do his best to confuse Kentucky’s young quarterback. The Cards are itching to snap their five-game Governor’s Cup losing streak.